Movie #95 - Bridge Jones: The Edge of Reason

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Miramax
2004 - Rated R - 1 hr 48 min
Director: Beeban Kindron
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent

In case you didn't get enough Bridget the first time, she's back!  I know Renee Zellweger annoys some people, but I just think she's adorable in this role.  Watching her try to ski? Priceless.

Anyway, most chick lit novels will stop once boy and girl get together.  But in this sequel, it clearly becomes evident that Bridget will 'foul up' just about anything she touches, so it's worth a second look at her and her budding romance with Mark Darcy.  Fielding writes lots more awkward scenarios into which she thrusts this lovable character, including a great scene where Bridget tries to buy a pregnancy test in Germany...without knowing any German. 

I'm glad that the sequel ends... and that's it... because dragging this on any further would have been overkill.  But this sequel is almost as fun as the first, so its worth a watch.

Movie #94 - Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary
Miramax Films
2001 - Rated R - 1 hr 37 min
Director: Sharon Maguire
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Shirley Henderson

Oh God, I love this movie.  I was so happy to see something so fun and light after the last few movies on the wall.  Go, Bridget, go!

Helen Fielding (author of the book) is a goddess, the 'mother' of modern chick lit, and a personal hero.  This book is hysterical, the movie is even better.  Renee Zellweger is the perfect blend of hopeless and lovable, cuddly and awkward.  When you watch this movie, you love her so much, it's easy to see why two hotties like Colin Firth and Hugh Grant would be so smitten with her charming, blundering ways.

Zellweger's total committment to this role, from the horrible wardrobe to her mishaps with a fireman's pole, are what makes this movie so enjoyable.  This is definitely one of the best book-to-movie transitions I've seen yet, and all because she does so well interpreting this character.

Movie #25 - American Dreamz

American Dreamz
Universal Pictures
2006 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 47 min
Director: Paul Weitz
Starring: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein and Jennifer Coolidge

"Imagine a country where the president never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and where more people vote for a pop idol than their next president."

That's the tagline for this one, and it pretty aptly sums up the premise. On one hand, you have a hugely successful pop idol selection show (sound familiar?) and on the other, you have a bumbling president who suddenly decides to start learning about foreign policy (ahem). Anyway, what happens when these two collide on one night of television? Did I forget to mention the terrorist cell that has a plant on said pop idol selection show?

It sounds overly satirical and too tongue-in-cheek to be funny, but the political undertones are well hidden. Subtle, even. You just get to sit back, relax, and pretend this stuff would never happen in the US. Right?

Good times.